Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Anomaly 2 is at its most satisfying when a route that looked sensible on the tactical map turns dangerous once the shooting starts. You guide a convoy toward each objective through enemy tower lines, balancing advance planning with hands-on intervention. That reversal of the usual tower-defense role remains a genuinely good hook: you are trying to crack a defensive puzzle rather than construct one.

The three-part structure gives you useful control without turning every encounter into menu work. Plan the squad’s path in tactical view, visit the squad screen to buy, sell, upgrade, and reorder units, then take direct command in battle view. Repairing damaged units or concentrating the squad’s fire on one tower gives you something immediate to do when a route begins to unravel. The result feels more active than simply watching a strategy unfold on its own.

Morphing units into alternate mech forms is the standout new wrinkle. Each form brings its own strengths, weaknesses, and abilities, so changing shape is a tactical response rather than a cosmetic flourish. Enemy towers also ask for more thought: one can absorb incoming fire and become stronger if its meter fills. That kind of threat can punish unfocused attacks, but it also makes careful target selection feel worthwhile.

The multiplayer mode is an especially sharp expression of the concept. One side controls the convoy while the other controls the towers, turning the same conflict into tower offense versus traditional tower defense. It is a natural fit for the game’s central idea and gives the tactical systems a more personal, adversarial edge.

Graphics

The action is viewed from above, with the convoy, its mech units, and enemy towers laid out clearly enough to follow a route through the battlefield. The squad screen and tactical map separate planning from combat cleanly, which helps when you need to alter unit order or pick a safer path.

Story

You command a human convoy in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic fight against an alien infestation. It is a sturdy frame for the missions: every objective carries the basic urgency of getting a small force safely through hostile territory.

The story primarily works as context for the strategic pressure. You are not defending a static base; you are pushing through an occupied world, and that makes the convoy’s forward movement feel appropriate to the setting.

Don’t come to Anomaly 2 expecting its fiction to overshadow its tactics. The human-versus-alien conflict does its job by giving the missions stakes and a clear enemy, while the real drama comes from whether your squad can survive the next line of towers.

Overall Experience

Anomaly 2 earns its 7.7 with a smart inversion of tower defense and enough new tactical options to keep its convoy combat from feeling like a one-note gimmick. Planning routes, managing the squad, calling in battlefield abilities, and morphing mechs give you several levers to pull when enemy defenses tighten up.

There will be moments when a poor route or badly chosen target makes the convoy feel exposed, and the more sophisticated towers can turn casual firing into a mistake. That frustration is largely the point: the game wants you to reassess, adjust the squad, and treat each approach as a tactical problem rather than a straight march.

Give it a chance if you enjoy real-time strategy that asks for both preparation and quick corrections. The single-player convoy campaign is the main draw, and multiplayer’s split tower-controller/convoy-controller setup is an excellent bonus for anyone who wants to test the concept against another person instead of an AI defense grid.

Retro Replay Score

7.7/10